On Air Next @ Radio 1190

Merry post-Valentines day, everybody. If you spent the holiday single, take solace in the fact that the worst is behind you now. If you successfully wooed your respective partner into continuing to be associated with you, congratulations. And if your wooing tactics were unsuccessful, well, tune into 1190 this week to cushion the blow with some jams.

Though their career was short-lived, Emeralds were at the forefront of the ambient/noise movement that’s unfurled over the past decade. They have since broken up, but as the new album by former guitarist Mark McGuire demonstrates, the upbeat yet abstract spirit of their music is very much alive and well. On Along The Way, McGuire crafts joyous instrumentals based around his electric guitar loops, with the results coming in somewhere between Vini Reilly and the Rocky V soundtrack. Is it slightly cheesy? No doubt about it. Is it impossible not to smile at? You betcha.

The Notwist has returned with another release of madcap electronic pop with their first album for Sub Pop, Close to the Glass. Though the electronics can feel jarring, smooth, natural and yet synthesized all at once, what really shines is the group’s ability to ground these experiments in the pop format, making grooves for both the body and the mind.

Out on Fat Possum Records, Solids’ new album Blame Confusion is an absolutely furious collection of speaker-destroying punk anthems that obliterates while still maintaining an almost friendly sense of sing-a-longy goodness. The songs on Blame Confusion sound like a less horrifying version of the 3-chord workouts on the Men’s debut album; Solids may pack a punch, but they aren’t denying anyone entry into the club.